Education Publications Research

Current Support:

 

CURRENT RESEARCH:

 

 

 Although I am actively working on seismological, geophysical, and tectonic research, I spend the majority of my time in information technology research and its applications to the geosciences. My current interests are focussed on building comprehensive geoscience information systems that include both digital libraries and data access tools via Inter- and intra networks. The ultimate goal in conducting this line of work is that once we develop sophisticated geoscience information systems, we, as geoscientists, will be able to conduct much needed interdiscliplinary research in a way that has not been possible before and try to understand our planet and its dynamic processes better. An example of a such study has just been published by Geophysical Journal International.

A short review of our research philosophy is described in Cornell's Digital Earth.

Above mentioned research grants support the majority of our research activities.

In our research group, we have developed a fairly comprehensive solid earth information system for research and education. We not only collect data, but also build tools and programs to efficiently utilize these data sets. In 1999, we developed one of the most sophisticated and easy-to-use web-maping applets that is currently being used by many researchers, educators, students, and the public. The site is available at http://atlas.geo.cornell.edu/ima.html. We are continously updating this tool to help both research and educational issues. While we continue to develop these we are also developing web-based earth science educational material. The activities can be viewed at our Discover Our Earth web pages.

I have been involved in applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to earth science problems for many years now. My interest in GIS developed after a realization that organized databases and integration of various geoscience disciplines under the umbrella of GIS would provide significant improvement in scientific research and education. Please see my publications list to see our recent papers on the topic.

PAST RESEARCH ACTIVITIES:

 

I have worked with geophysical and geological data to study and understand tectonics and crustal and upper mantle structures in many regions in the world. In the past 12 years, following my B.S. degree, I focused my research efforts towards the goal of understanding the geodynamic processes in the crust and upper mantle. My academic training required utilizing multi-disciplinary data sets in searching answers to geological problems.

In my Master of Science at St. Louis University I worked on surface wave dispersion inversion for crustal and upper mantle velocities and Q structures in the Arabian peninsula. I determined the shear wave velocity structure in the peninsula by inverting the group wave dispersion curves and crustal Q values by matching amplitude spectra.

In my Ph.D. studies at Cornell University, I continued working on lithospheric and upper mantle structures, geodynamic processes in the uppermost mantle, and intracontinental mountain building. I interpreted seismic refraction data in the Palmyride intracontinental mountain belt in Syria to determine metamorphic basement structure and its involvement in this intracontinental mountain building. The results of this work was published in Geophysical Journal International.

I, then, worked with data obtained from the recently installed digital seismological network in Morocco to study seismotectonics, earthquake hazard, and the crustal and upper mantle structure beneath the intraplate Atlas and interplate Rif mountain belts. I studied upper mantle velocity structure beneath the Atlas and Rif mountains by using a teleseismic tomography technique. My early findings has led me to further investigate problems in evolution continental lithosphere, such as delamination of continental lithosphere and its geophysical and geological effects. This research led us for the first time documentation of lithospheric delamination by geophysical data.

I worked extensively with gravity data and their interpretation. I analyzed and interpreted parts of Syria, Lebanon and Morocco gravity data. Remote sensing was one of my minor concentration fields during my graduate studies. This allowed me to utilize and interpret satellite imagery data for surface geology and tectonic applications.

In the past four years, I have also been working with Italian scientists on the tectonics of the Apennine and Alps mountain systems. I participated in research studies such as Pn tomography of the uppermost mantle and attenuation studies in Italy.

In 1995, following my Ph.D. degree, I joined the Institute for the Study of the Continents at Cornell University to work on a project aimed at understanding the tectonics and crustal and upper mantle structure of the Middle East and North Africa region and developing essential GIS databases aimed at this goal. Since that time I have been involved in seismological and other geophysical investigations in this region as well as developing GIS applications.

Please see my publications for details of these research activities.


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